“The few spectators who braved the heat in the open grandstands could barely distinguish cars hidden by concrete walls,” F1 author Maurice Hamilton recalled in his 2015 guide to grand prix circuits. Or that the race took place in the daytime. It did not help the race was staged in the Caesars Palace parking lot, on a tight track that looked like a couple of paperclips lying side by side. “In America in those days, nobody knew what Formula One was and those that did didn’t even care,” Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s erstwhile supremo, said this week. In 1981 and again in 1982, Sin City played host to the final round of the season, when the race was known as the Caesars Palace Grand Prix. It is all a far cry from the last time Formula One visited these parts. But no one could deny the scale or ambition of this project, which has cost upwards of £500 million to turn into reality. World champion Max Verstappen admitted to feeling “like a clown” as drivers were unveiled to fans on raised platforms, adding the race as a whole was “not really my thing”. The lavish opening ceremony was not to everyone’s tastes. With Kylie Minogue and John Legend among the big-name artists performing on stage, a giant drone display lighting up the Nevada night sky, and VIP guests – some of whom had paid upwards of $150,000 (£121,000) for the privilege – feasting on black truffle tagliarini and lobster, the Las Vegas Grand Prix got off to a typically understated start.
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